MÁV Symphony Orchestra

Beethoven’s The Consecration of the House overture was written for the ceremonial opening of the Josephstädter Theater in Vienna in 1822. His only concert aria is a popular choice ahead of any of his great vocal works, Symphony No. 9, Mass in C major, or in the present case, the oratorio Christ on the Mount of Olives. The Ah! perfido! aria is the cry of a scandalized woman whose beloved is about to leave her. ▪ Beethoven wrote his first oratorio in 1803, which debuted at the same concert as the Piano Concerto in C minor and Symphony No. 2. The oratorio processes one of the most dramatic parts of the passion story from the Bible, when Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane on the Mount of Olives spends the night with his disciples and is arrested by the soldiers of Pilate.